[Matt1976]

Dear all,

I’ve been looking long and hard for an applicable forum for the past month on what I’m looking for but I’m not sure if it exists, so here goes:


Basically I’m being relocated from the U.K with my company to Florida along with my wife and our two Dalmatians. The position is regional based which means I will be based at home but need to travel around my patch on a regular basis visiting various subsidiaries of my firm. The good thing about this is we get to choose where we want to live with the only real mandatory field from my company being we have to be in Mid/South Florida.

We have visited FL before once and did a fly drive around the main areas so have a very general picture in our minds of what its like, but never looked at it from a living perspective only a tourists.

Now there are a couple of factors which will dictate from a job perspective, where we live and these are:

• Maximum 90 mins car journey to an international airport (could stretch to 2 hrs if location is worthy)

• Am required to drive to the following cities around once every 5 weeks and as such wouldn’t want to be too far away from any of them; Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Naples.


Now for the personal requirements:

• Both my wife and I are in our early 30’s and have no kids and enjoy socialising, dining out, bars, shopping, now being from Europe we like to have all amenities quite close by therefore we are used to living near a hub (city centre) with restaurants, bars and shops to visit, without the need to drive everywhere to go from maybe a restaurant to a bar etc. I know the US is not always like this, but as we will be new to the area (country!) it would be nice to be part of a community somewhere and be able to make new friends easily and not feel isolated out in a large housing development with no communal meeting type place. Also we would like to steer clear of any large snowbird regions or at least be in an area where we can meet people our own age who enjoy socialising.

• We have two dogs which both require walking every day and thus would need open spaces to walk them and a house with fenced back yard, we already drive 20 mins to walk them now so it’s not a problem if the walks are not on our doorstep, dog friendly beaches are fine.

• We both love the outdoor life and wouldn’t want to be situated in the middle of a large urban city. Basically a happy medium between; close by nice wide beaches, a continental feeling town/city centre for the social element, low crime, not outrageous property prices/insurances etc.

• Housing wise, we will be looking for at least a 3 bed two bath, with screened pool, double garage, and fenced back garden. Budget of around $300 - $400K.

• I love the ocean and would like to be close by to it, however I’m slightly torn between the east and west coasts. Mainly because I surf, and therefore east coast is preferable for that, but I prefer the beaches of the west for their better waters and more picturesque appeal???

• Now from looking at the historic hurricane records it appears the space coast gets away with fewer disruption than some of the southern areas or western coast lines, is this likely to produce cheaper housing insurance costs as a result? Therefore are we more at risk of flooding along the west coast or farther south?

• Cost of living, we are already used to paying over the odds for living being in the U.K, so would be prepared to pay for the privilege of paying a little more to be in a good neighbourhood/area.

• Weather; another preference for being close by the sea would be lesser humidity, does this vary a lot from say east to west coasts? Or say Tampa to Miami?

• Schools, crime, also it goes without saying we want to be in a low crime region with good schools nearby for future plans.

The areas I’ve been looking into so far are:

Melbourne, Viera, Satellite Beach, Indiatlantic, Vero Beach, Jupiter, Clearwater, Tampa bay, Palm beach, Cocoa, I’ve not looked at many places further south as I thought the humidity may be worse plus I thought Orlando/Sanford airports may be better to fly into than say Miami for relatives/friends from the UK due to more frequent airlines. However if the climate is not really that much different and we can achieve more of our requirements from above then we could be swayed further south.

Out of all the above areas I’ve looked at the Tampa region looks like it could offer more, but again there are so many regions to research I am beginning to feel very lost.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Matt

[Matt1976]

Anyone care to comment?

[Tungsten_Udder]

I just commented on some similar issues in another thread (on another Florida forum), but I'll just type some of it out again:

First off, it sounds like a job I'd love to have, too--is your company hiring more folks doing a similar job?

Originally Posted by Matt1976

• Maximum 90 mins car journey to an international airport (could stretch to 2 hrs if location is worthy)

Well, at two hours, that puts you within range of just about anywhere in Central or Southern Florida, so that's not a problem.

• Am required to drive to the following cities around once every 5 weeks and as such wouldn’t want to be too far away from any of them; Orlando, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Ft Lauderdale, Miami, Naples.

The maximum distance there would be from Tampa to Miami, which is 280 miles (or 450 kilometers, to make it easier for you to envision). The geographical center for all of those (so you'd have a maximum drive about half that distance) would probably be somewhere like the city of Okeechobee, or a bit further west of there, like Highland Park Estates. BUT, I don't think you'd like living in an area like that (small suburbs without urban areas, kind of in the middle of nowhere). You'd probably want to be closer to one of the coasts, which means that some of your drives are going to be a good 300 kilometers or so.

• Both my wife and I are in our early 30’s and have no kids and enjoy socialising, dining out, bars, shopping, now being from Europe we like to have all amenities quite close by therefore we are used to living near a hub (city centre) with restaurants, bars and shops to visit, without the need to drive everywhere to go from maybe a restaurant to a bar etc.

This is the major part where I have to repeat from the other post . . . maybe I'll just quote from that: " . . . It's worth noting that Florida is a lot like Southern California, in that it's major sprawlsville, with mostly small, sometimes effectively non-functional-off-business-hours downtown areas (even including Miami--although I know there was some effort to change this fact in the urban areas and it may be better than when I was last living there full time), and lots of spread out suburbs. Southeast Florida especially, from Homestead and Florida City south of Miami to at least Jupiter and maybe Port St. Lucie north of West Palm Beach, and from the ocean on the east to the Everglades on the west, is effectively one huge, sprawling suburbia--about 120 miles long north to south and maybe an average of 20 miles wide east to west. The point of this being that unless you make an effort to be very insular and not do most things you could do, you're going to be driving a lot to get to the various things that you're interested in, so it's not as if you need to (or even that you could) live right next to everything.

"And if you're looking for a Northeastern US downtown-style environment where you don't have to drive to go to a bunch of different restaurants, clubs, etc., you'll only find that in areas that are more or less right on either the Intracoastal or the beach (depending on the area), but note that in South Florida, those areas much more quickly change character from 'Wow--how can so many people afford living here?' to 'Drive fast out of here before they start shooting', and those areas vacillate as you drive up or down the coast."


In other words, Florida just doesn't tend to be laid out the way you'd like it to be. Wherever you are--well, unless maybe it's Key West, and there it's out of necessity because the island is so small, but that's too far away for you--there's not going to be a wide variety of places within walking distance (well, unless 20 kilometers is a comfortable walking distance to you, lol), and the public transportation, if there even IS any--many places there isn't--is not very practical for much. So basically, you're going to HAVE to drive to a lot of things you might want to do.

Now, that's not to say that you can't live in a few areas where there are a handful of restaurants and/or bars, etc. within a couple kilometers, but there is not going to be a LOT of different restaurants that close, and more than likely, at least half are going to be chain/fast food restaurants. There aren't a ton of areas where even that's the case--what's far more common is that you'll be in a suburb where it's a kilometer or two to McDonald's and 7-11 (a convenience store), and those other areas tend to be a bit more expensive.

nice to be part of a community somewhere and be able to make new friends easily and not feel isolated out in a large housing development with no communal meeting type place.

This will be another culture shock area, probably. I'm not sure what might qualify for a "communal type meeting place" in Florida. Maybe a bar--but most Florida bars are one of three types: (1) Neighborhood bars, which tend to be small, a bit dingy, and very insular. The easiest conversations to strike up in them are usually with a guy who is drunk, rambling and falling all over you, (2) Sports bars -- there can be some neighborhood bar type people there, but most folks come in groups that stick to themselves, (3) Big "meat market" clubs with blasting music and people pretending they are fashion icons in an attempt to attract people of whatever gender they're interested in.

Churches are good places to meet people, but that depends on whether you're religious and whether your area has a church in your denomination (although you could just go to a church anyway--I've done that before; I'm not religious).

It's not that no one is friendly in Florida, but not everyone is, and I doubt a neighborhood exists (I actually doubt this exists anywhere in the US) where almost EVERYONE is friendly to newcomers, especially to the extent where they actually strike up friendships with them--which is different than people just being polite.

What you're going to have to do is (1) approach neighbors by trying to talk to them when you see them outside, or maybe knocking on their doors, but be prepared to get a cold shoulder, as that's going to happen sometimes (maybe more often than not), (2) try to strike up conversations with people in stores using the quantity approach, and (3) try to get involved with some local activities related to your interests/hobbies--that's the most likely way to make friends. This is going to be true wherever you live here, and it will even be true with other people in a condo building, say.

Also we would like to steer clear of any large snowbird regions or at least be in an area where we can meet people our own age who enjoy socialising.

Areas with very small amounts of snowbirds are the areas, like Belle Glade, say, that you wouldn't want to live in (it's an agricultural town in the boonies with LOTS of socio-economic problems). Just like when you live in a place like New York City, San Francisco, LA, etc., there are always going to be tourists and part-time residents around in Florida. If you want to avoid them (it actually kind of annoys me that everyone wants to avoid them--it's not like there's something wrong with them as people just because they're only visiting or only living there part of the year), that's easy enough to do even if you're near Orlando.

• We have two dogs which both require walking every day and thus would need open spaces to walk them and a house with fenced back yard, we already drive 20 mins to walk them now so it’s not a problem if the walks are not on our doorstep, dog friendly beaches are fine.

A house with a back yard tends to conflict with wanting to be in one of the locations where there are more restaurants/bars, etc. within close walking distance. But most places you'd live in Florida are going to have plenty of places to walk a dog, and most houses have yards. I've never owned dogs, but if I'm remembering correctly, most public beaches in Southeast Florida, at least, do NOT allow dogs. It would be better to check with a dog owner on that, though--it's not something I normally pay attention to.

• We both love the outdoor life and wouldn’t want to be situated in the middle of a large urban city.

This again conflicts with wanting to be within close walking distance of more businesses.

Basically a happy medium between; close by nice wide beaches, a continental feeling town/city centre for the social element, low crime, not outrageous property prices/insurances etc.

Sounds kind of pipe-dreamish to me. Again, you're not going to be able to be close to everything you'd like to be close to in Florida, and you're going to have to drive to a lot of things. That's just the culture here, and in the vast majority of the US. There are only a couple cities--NYC, Chicago, San Francisco might be the whole list, where you are within walking distance of tens of different businesses, attractions, etc. and where you can easily get around without owning a car.

• Housing wise, we will be looking for at least a 3 bed two bath, with screened pool, double garage, and fenced back garden. Budget of around $300 - $400K.

That should be relatively easy to find (although not in Dade County--Miami's county, at least) in the current real estate market. You can get some steals if you head up to Port St. Lucie county at the moment (I don't know the West Coast or East-Central coast market as well), and that's somewhat central to the destinations you'll be frequenting for work, on the east coast. Again, I think you'll only be happy given your desires on either the east or west coast, not towards the center of the state. If I were making the decision with your job, I'd probably move somewhere more towards the center of the state, but I like rural living/being out in the boonies.

• I love the ocean and would like to be close by to it, however I’m slightly torn between the east and west coasts. Mainly because I surf, and therefore east coast is preferable for that, but I prefer the beaches of the west for their better waters and more picturesque appeal???

That's balancing practicality versus aesthetics, and I don't think anyone could decide that for you.

• Now from looking at the historic hurricane records it appears the space coast gets away with fewer disruption than some of the southern areas or western coast lines, is this likely to produce cheaper housing insurance costs as a result?

No one can predict where hurricanes will occur. Historical statistics are of no help there, and you shouldn't let them mislead you into thinking you can predict where they'll make landfall, how often they'll occur, etc. Real estate costs in the US are correlated to how close the real estate is to urban areas/areas with a wider variety of jobs available. In general, the further away from things you are, the cheaper you can find a home (which is one of the many things I like about being in the boonies--the problem is having a job that will let you live anywhere, but you've got that part solved), although another factor is just how "developed" an area is relative to housing demand. Some places, like Wyoming, a state I'd love to live in, tend to have an odd shortage of housing relative to needs, so the prices are a bit higher there because of that.

Therefore are we more at risk of flooding along the west coast or farther south?

You're more at risk of flooding near the coasts and in flood zones (which can be away from the coasts) becuase of the topography of the land. East coast versus west coast isn't a factor.

• Cost of living . . .

You pick how much you want to pay for housing, check the taxes before you buy, and get an insurance estimate. The rest of the stuff--groceries, gas, etc.--is going to be more or less the same for everyone in the area you're looking at.

• Weather; another preference for being close by the sea would be lesser humidity, does this vary a lot from say east to west coasts? Or say Tampa to Miami?

You're never further than 75 miles from either the Atlantic Ocean or the Gulf of Mexico ANYWHERE in the entire state. The whole lower half of the state is also basically swampland. Humidity doesn't change much being close to the ocean versus being more inland. What changes is that on the coast, you often get more of a breeze, and that helps. Otherwise, it's just that the further north you go, the cooler the temperatures you can get at some times of the year, some parts of the day. Orlando in January, say, can be maybe 10-15 degrees (Fahrenheit, so less of a difference in Celsius) cooler at night than Southeast Florida. Most of the time the temperature difference isn't that pronounced, and sometimes it can even go the other way--just depends on fronts, etc.

• Schools, crime, also it goes without saying we want to be in a low crime region with good schools nearby for future plans.

I don't agree with the conventional wisdom when it comes to assessing those things. Statistics do not tell you how safe you're likely to be in an area, and school ratings and stats do not tell you how likely your kids are to become educated and receive good grades (which are two different ideas, by the way).

Out of all the above areas I’ve looked at the Tampa region looks like it could offer more, but again there are so many regions to research I am beginning to feel very lost.

I think it's also important to spend some time in the areas you're interested in, because for me, at least, different areas have different "feels". I just don't like the feel of some places near as much as others.

I think what you need to do to help narrow it down is think hard about just how far you'd like to routinely drive to most of the locations you need for work (and keep in mind that Florida driving tends to be LONG, straight, completely flat stretches of road that most folks find boring, and between I-4 (between Daytona and Tampa) and State Road 80 (between West Palm Beach and Fort Myers) your ONLY choice is to drive from east to west across the state on 2 lane roads, so even though distances may not seem huge, it can take much longer to make the drive).

Beyond that, think hard about the kinds of activities that you're interested in--restaurants, surfing, spectator sports, concerts/theater, museums--whatever it is that you might want to do.

[HidnFox]

Tungsten is so right.
As a life long resident of the Tampa Bay area, I can tell you a few details about Tampa and St Pete that might help. Access to Tampa Int'l Airport is easy from St Pete and Clearwater as well as Tampa (of course).

The neighborhoods.
Generally it seems to me that you're describing an area very much like Old Northeast St. Pete or the Hyde Park / Palma Ceia areas of Tampa. Both have access to very long sidewalks (the Bayshore Drive walk in Tampa is the world's longest continuous sidewalk!) along the bay. There is a great selection of homes of many styles & ages that would meet your needs with the dogs. And these neighborhoods are very close to newly developing urban centers of museums, movies, shops, restaurants. Both cities have an active creative class and are home to St Pete College, The University of South Florida and the University of Tampa. This local ezine is one resource that might help you learn about area issues and activities CreativeTampaBay.com » Newsletter

Orlando has a couple of similar neighborhoods - Winter Park and the downtown area around Church Street (although downtown Orlando might be difficult to find a house with a pool and fenced yard, it does have some beautiful townhomes). These areas of Orlando generally don't have tourists in the numbers you'll find in the Kissimmee / Disney / International Drive area. In Orlando you'll find a lot of beautiful lakes rather than the bay / Gulf of Mexico. Florida does have a lot of water - not just salt water!

South Florida - especially Miami - has sadly taken a very hard blow from the current housing downturn. It's causing real, daily problems for the people who live there. My nephew and his new wife just moved there in August so she could attend St. Thomas Aquinas law school. They moved from Boston where she had just completed her undergraduate degree. He had a great job in Boston with a web design and marketing firm. He has a marketing degree from USF and a good work history. He hasn't been able to find a job. Their car was broken into and vandalized within two days of moving in to their rented condo there - and it's in a nice area. They have both lived in urban areas all their lives and they find the South Amercan culture there too much for them and are very unhappy. She has all ready started looking for another law school to attend. If you speak Spanish you'll find it's a very easy city to get along in. Otherwise, it may seem very foreign. Even though real estate prices have fallen there - it's mostly the condos that have lower prices, there is a glut of condos on the market there. Lots of them are vacant, which is contributing to the crime problem. A home like the one you describe in an area like Coconut Grove or one of the Miami Beach communities - most artsy and walking friendly areas of Miami & its' beaches - would be priced quite a bit higher than your price range. Miami does have a very Latin American flavor and a very active arts scene.

One last suggestion. After a lifetime of experience (my family moved to St Petersburg from Michigan in 1959 when I was a baby) with people who have relocated to our lovely state, please seriously consider renting a home in the area that you think you'd like to live before you buy one. Live there for at least 3 or 4 months, give it a chance. And do what Tungsten suggests - get out and meet people. Ask your neighbors and check the web for activities that your interested in. And if you land in Tampa Bay - send me an email. I'd love to give you a tour!

I sincerely hope you enjoy becoming Floridians!

[gypsychic]

I agree with the above two posts - great information there (tungsten_udder was quite thorough!)

Anyway, I will just add that Sarasota might be a place to consider. It has a nice regional airport, and Tampa is only an hour north. Sarasota has some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, and it is a very cosmopolitan city with residents (full and part-time) and visitors from all over the world. My husband and I have just purchased there again after having lived there years ago. It is full of arts and museums, several colleges and has a small but vibrant downtown, in addition to St. Armand's Circle, which is just over the bridge from downtown on Lido Key. Lots and lots of great restaurants and things to do. Also downtown there are many restaurants with outdoor seating where your doggie is welcome.

There are many good deals to be had in real estate right now, and you can get something that meets your needs in your price range, just connect with a good realtor in the area.

As mentioned in the earlier posts, you really have to visit certain areas and see if you like the "vibe". You will get all sorts of opinions here, because we are all different and look for different attributes in a place. I really love the whole Tampa Bay area of Florida, which for me includes Tampa/St. Pete on down through Sarasota/Venice, east through Lakeland and Polk County and north through the small towns of Dade City/Brooksville. I love the vibes of this region - while I think many Atlantic Coast towns are nice, I just prefer the Gulf Coast. However; if surfing is really really important to you, you might want to stay oceanside.

ETA: Here is a list of dog-friendly parks, etc.

http://www.floridapets.net/Sarasota.html

Good luck to you!

[Matt1976]

Many thanks for your very detailed responses, it has been great to hear all your opinions.

I have done some further looking into the Sarasota and Tampa regions and i must say i'm quite impressed with what i've found so far, they appear to contain many of the attributes we're looking for, Sarasota especially.

Could you comment on which areas of Sarasota would meet our requirements best?

From browsing the real estate web sites, property prices fluctuate tremendously from one area to another, where do you think our money would go further with a budget of $400 max for housing, taking into consideration we don't want to spend over the odds for house insurances etc? We are not too concerned with being close by the water, so long as its say within a short drive (10 - 15 mins) away for dog walking and weekends that would be fine. More important is a close proximity to the shops, resturants, bars and just general things to do.

Finally, my wife has some worries about the hazardous wildlife element, i.e. snakes, gators, insects etc and has asked if certain districts are worse than others in this respect? For instance i see many properties for sale with a lake/water view, this would be normally non-salt water one would assume, therefore is this likely to attract gators, mosquitos more so than a housing development without any nearby water? In the same token are there any other factors to avoid/look for which define what kind of wildlife are likley to be present in an area, i.e. if nearby the salt water are you less likely to come across gators and bugs?

Sorry to ask a question which i'm sure to many of you is obvious, but we don't have any experience of these kinds of habitats here in the U.K.

Many thanks again

[Tungsten_Udder]

I like Sarasota and I've visited it quite a few times, but I do not know the specific areas/neighborhoods there well enough to steer you to or from particular ones. Most of my Sarasota visits have been more along the lines of sightseeing. It definitely meets all your major requirements, and even has its own airport, but I don't know about the comparative frequency or price of flights to the UK from there. I just know that you can get flights to the UK from there.

Your longest drive time for work would be to Miami, which mapquest says is 3.5 hours (at 230 miles). I know for me, I'd have to figure just over 4 hours for that drive--but I drive kinda slow (everyone calls me "grandpa" when I drive lol), I like to stop a lot, etc. I'd probably stop at least three times on that trip. I always have to figure road trips at an average of 45-50mph. There are probably people who could make that drive in 2.5 hours or less, they'd just have to take all the precautions they can against cops. The last time I did a trip on I-75 in that area, just last month, there were State Troopers ALL over the place . . . of course I didn't have to worry about them, lol.

You should have absolutely no problem finding a nice place in your price range . . . just stay a bit further from the water if you want lower insurance rates.

Re the critters, they are all over the state, really. There are both salt and fresh water gators and mosquitoes--for mosquitoes, Florida actually has sixty-seven different species. But the critters are not something to worry much about, especially if you're living in surburbia rather than a rural area. Chances are that you'd have a hard time finding snakes and gators in the suburbs even if you went looking for them (things like chameleons and frogs on the other hand you'll probably see often, but they're nothing to worry about). What's more important is just to learn some basic information about what to watch out for, what not to do. For example, avoid stepping over logs (especially rotting logs) without paying much attention to them--that's a favorite hiding spot for snakes. Don't go sticking your hand in a big pile of dead branches lying in someone's yard--that's another place that snakes like to hide. Or, on the beach, you need to know that man-of-war look like, so you don't try to pick up that "odd balloon". It's probably online somewhere, too, but otherwise a good place to get all the basic tips on that stuff is a hiking book. When you get to Florida, go to one of those "mega-bookstores", go to the "Local" section, and look at a couple hiking books. They'll have introductions, and part of the introduction will usually give you this kind of info in five to ten pages. The book I've seen so far that probably has the best section on this is Timothy O'Keefe's Hiking Florida, published by Falcon (although my opinion of that book as a hiking book isn't so hot, lol).

[gypsychic]

Originally Posted by Matt1976

Many thanks for your very detailed responses, it has been great to hear all your opinions.

I have done some further looking into the Sarasota and Tampa regions and i must say i'm quite impressed with what i've found so far, they appear to contain many of the attributes we're looking for, Sarasota especially.

Could you comment on which areas of Sarasota would meet our requirements best?

From browsing the real estate web sites, property prices fluctuate tremendously from one area to another, where do you think our money would go further with a budget of $400 max for housing, taking into consideration we don't want to spend over the odds for house insurances etc? We are not too concerned with being close by the water, so long as its say within a short drive (10 - 15 mins) away for dog walking and weekends that would be fine. More important is a close proximity to the shops, resturants, bars and just general things to do.

Finally, my wife has some worries about the hazardous wildlife element, i.e. snakes, gators, insects etc and has asked if certain districts are worse than others in this respect? For instance i see many properties for sale with a lake/water view, this would be normally non-salt water one would assume, therefore is this likely to attract gators, mosquitos more so than a housing development without any nearby water? In the same token are there any other factors to avoid/look for which define what kind of wildlife are likley to be present in an area, i.e. if nearby the salt water are you less likely to come across gators and bugs?

Sorry to ask a question which i'm sure to many of you is obvious, but we don't have any experience of these kinds of habitats here in the U.K.

Many thanks again

I am thinking your best bet in Sarasota would be one of the planned communities, these will be inland a bit, but you will have more house and land for your budget, and likely less insurance cost away from the coast. Here are a few websites:

Welcome to Lakewood Ranch

Meadows Country Club - Home

Palm-Aire Country Club*Home Page

There are others such as Palmer Ranch and University Park and more, I didn't have time to look for all the websites. Lakewood Ranch and University Park are newer areas, Palm-Aire and Meadows a bit older. These are all in great location northside, convenient to airport and all the new shopping, yet minutes from downtown and the beaches. You will really need a good realtor to help you narrow it down, we have some nice realtors on this forum who may be able to help you out. I do think you would be happy with the Sarasota area - it really is one of the most centrally located areas to the cities you need to visit regularly, and you will enjoy the European feel of this town.

Good luck to you!

[FLBob]

I'll try and help on the critter front.

Alligators can be found anywhere there is fresh water. The closer you are to an older developed neighborhood the less likely you are to see them. They will be around golf course lakes. While shocking to most people, alligators don't go after people. I spend a lot of time on the water and I'm around alligators frequently. The gators tend to leave when they see people or boats. My wife actually made one of her best chips shots while standing about 10 feet from a 6 foot gator she though was a log.

Snakes, while there are a number of snakes in Florida, the variety that I see most often is a black racer. If your in town you're less likely to see any of the hazardous varieties. When I've seen the bad boys is when I've been out in fields far from where anyone is living or on lakes in the interior of the State.

Mosquitoes are not much of a problem in the urban areas, most areas have very effective mosquito control programs.

Fire ants are the bane of Florida, especially if you have dogs. They can be controlled but you must be diligent. Disturbing a fire ant mound will arouse the little devils and they attack. Once on the unlucky person or dog they bite and their bite will become inflamed. I treat my yard spring and fall, and look for mounds weekly, treating the mound when I see it. Fire Ants are an import, and the control species is just now being released after years of study.

I live in Venice, which is just south of Sarasota, and right on the coast. In my neighborhood I've seen fox, bobcat, raccoon, possum, red tail hawk, wild parrots, ibis, egrets, herons, blue jays, squirrels, cardinals, rabbits...the occasional black snake, but mostly just benign creatures. I think that's what you'll find in most established communities.

The fear of the unknown is much worse than the reality.

I think if you look from St Pete, Sarasota, Venice you'll find much of what you are looking for. Even surfing, the waves are not great but we have our share of rough weather that will give you some 3-5 ft breakers.

[Matt1976]

Thanks again for your detailed posts, I am planning a visit next month to various areas around the state and intend on checking out some of these regions above. One thing that I often see on this forum is that Sarasota is described as being full of older people with very little young people present, this makes me a little concerned about meeting people our own age and finding fun things to do, I'm interested to hear your comments on this?

Thanks in advance